1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a specialized keyboard which is secured above the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar. Keys are arranged on the keyboard to allow a user to press one or more keys to cause strings to be depressed at desired positions on the fingerboard.
2. Description of the Prior Art
While many people desire to learn to play a stringed instrument, such as an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, banjo, or mandolin, two obstacles deter many people from mastering a stringed instrument. As is readily apparent to anyone who has attempted to play a guitar, pressing each string on the fingerboard in the manner required to play a particular note or chord is initially painful. Until one has played the instrument enough to develop calluses on the tips of fingers of the fingering hand, those fingers hurt as the musician is learning to play. Second, manipulating the fingers to press strings of the instrument in exactly the right positions to play desired notes and chords is difficult. Because the strings of the instrument are close together, much practice is required to hold the strings in proper positions without affecting adjacent strings.
A number of devices are known in the prior art to attempt to overcome these obstacles. For example, a variety of chord-playing keyboards have been fashioned to allow someone learning to play a stringed instrument to press a particular key or set of keys on the keyboard and thereby cause multiple strings of the instrument to be depressed at the appropriate positions on the fingerboard of the instrument to cause particular chords to be played when the instrument is strummed. Such devices include U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,094,038 to Weaver et al., 1,219,884 to Thingstad, 2,450,210 to Sprague, 3,805,664 to Starns, 3,915,051 to Kincaid, 3,995,523 to Clarke, 4,030,400 to Del Castillo, 4,195,546 to Urbank, 4,363,256 to Smith, 4,545,282 to Arnett et al., 4,566,365 to Huston, Jr., 4,665,789 to Papadatos, 5,831,189 to Edlund, 4,331,059 to Marabotto, and 6,753,466 to Lee. While some of these devices achieve the purpose of simplifying the hand manipulation required to sound particular chords, these chord-playing devices may actually impede learning how to play the instrument. If the music student relies on pressing a particular key to sound a chord, that student has not learned which strings and positions are necessarily depressed to cause that chord to be played if the chord-playing device is not available. Furthermore, these devices restrict the ability of the musician to play any notes or chords other than the chords which the device is dedicated to playing. The device must be removed from the instrument if a chord is to be played which is not included in the finite number of chords which are playable with the device.
Other devices known in the prior art attempt to overcome these obstacles to learning to play a stringed instrument without limiting the playing process in the manner of the chord-playing keyboards. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 745,557 to Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 1,374,388 to Reed, U.S. Pat. No. 1,437,026 to Spartivento and U.S. Pat. No. 4,222,303 to Kryznowsky each teach a keyboard attachment with raised, cylindrical keys which may be pressed to depress strings of the instrument in select positions under the keyboard. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 730,000 to Buchanan, U.S. Pat. No. 1,207,213 to Re, U.S. Pat. No. 2,429,138 to Ruf, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,744,433 to Rooms each describe keyboards with six non-touching buttons across the area of the fingerboard between each set of frets. While these devices have the beneficial effect of minimizing the pain associated with using finger tips to depress strings onto the instrument fingerboard, the finger manipulation required to play particular chords may actually be more difficult than fingering the strings directly on the fingerboard of the instrument. In the case of devices with cylindrical, raised keys, playing particular chords may be more difficult because the keys are significantly raised above the keyboard. In the case of keyboards utilizing six non-touching buttons across each row between frets, the buttons are necessarily very small and difficult to uniquely depress.
A stringed instrument keyboard is needed which reduces the pain associated with holding strings on the fingerboard with fingertips, facilitates finger placement for holding multiple strings in appropriate positions for sounding chords, and allows the user to learn proper finger placement for chord playing. Such a keyboard will make it easier to learn to play a stringed instrument, and thus has the potential to permit many would-be musicians to embark on a journey of actually playing music despite some of the obstacles which have previously prevented that accomplishment.